Proposed quota to limit chain stores divides Banff

Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald02.02.2013

The Town of Banff plays hosts to tourists from around the world, who come for the scenery and fill up the local shops and hotels.Leah Hennel
/ Calgary Herald

Susanne Gillies-Smith, who owns the Banff Tea Company, argues in favour of keeping out the large chain stores. “If your main industry is tourism, then you’ve got to offer something unique that people can’t find in their back yard,” she says.Leah Hennel
/ Calgary Herald

Banff council will vote Feb. 25 on Bylaw 314, which, would put restrictions on the number of “formula” restaurants and stores that can set up shop in the community.Jenelle Schneider
/ Calgary Herald

CALGARY — With Banff’s council set to vote later this month on a proposed quota system for chain stores and restaurants, residents are embroiled in a debate over the mountain town’s very identity.

More than 100 people crowded into a four-hour long public hearing last week to air their views on Bylaw 314, which, if passed, would put restrictions on the number of “formula” restaurants and stores that can set up shop in the community.

While chains like Starbucks and McDonald’s have long coexisted alongside Banff’s one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants, some small business owners say it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete.

“A national park is where we preserve and protect things that we value, so the whole ‘let the free market reign’ argument doesn’t apply,” said Susanne Gillies-Smith, who raised alarm bells in 2011 when mega-chain David’s Tea announced it would open a location just across the corner from her independently owned Banff Tea Co.

Gillies-Smith said with Banff’s commercial lease costs among the highest in Canada, the community will ultimately lose its some of its charm if mom-and-pop stores have to fight for space with big corporations.

“If your main industry is tourism, then you’ve got to offer something unique that people can’t find in their back yard,” Gillies-Smith said. “We need to look at the bigger picture in terms of who we are and what we’re providing to the rest of Canada.”

The 2009 demise of the Banff Book and Art Den, which some in the community blamed on the arrival of Indigo, is another example cited by the supporters of a quota system. But Darren Reeder, executive director of the Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association, said many local businesspeople aren’t convinced there’s a problem.

Reeder said members of his association wants to encourage economic development, not inhibit it.

“You don’t encourage evolution and innovation in your economy by saddling it with more regulation,” Reeder said.

He added Banff is not about to lose its unique character, since the community’s cap on development rules out the arrival of any big box stores or stand-alone chain restaurants. New retailers can come into the community only when an existing space comes up for lease, and then they must meet certain esthetic and design standards.

“There’s very little about the design and character of Banff Avenue has changed in the last 25 years. It’s virtually undetectable,” Reeder said.

A study by a Vancouver-based consultant commissioned by the Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association suggests that with 40 per cent of Banff residents employed in the tourist industry, the community’s economy would be at risk if restrictions were put in place that failed to allow the commercial sector to adjust to changing consumer preferences. The study points out that just 20 U.S. communities and one Canadian community (Qualicum Beach, B.C.) have instituted restrictions on chain stores and restaurants, and none of those communities have populations that are as fully dependent on the health of the local commercial sector as Banff’s.

Another consultant, commissioned by a group of residents, argued at last week’s public hearing that chain stores erode visitor numbers by turning unique destinations into generic ones.

Local carpenter Doug Hamel — who conducted his own informal survey in November by stopping visitors on the street and asking their opinion — said he’s not a supporter of added regulation. But he said of the visitors he talked to, the vast majority were opposed to the arrival of more formulaic shops and restaurants.

“I get my coffee at Starbucks and I buy my gas at Petro-Can. . . . I am a person who uses chain stores, so I can’t say, ‘No chain stores,’ ” Hamel said. “But the town’s mandate is to serve tourists, so let’s get the proper facts and talk to the tourists. We should be giving them what they want.”

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